Mary suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes were locked on a small creature that had appeared from behind a tree up ahead. It was a large gray and black cat. It had no collar and might have been a stray.
A wave of fear spread across her mind. She tried to fight it, her human instincts knowing she was larger than the cat and had no rational reason to fear it, other than the off-chance it had rabies. Still, something in her mind refused to listen to reason. It was a cat, and cats were scary. They eat her and her kind.
Wait a minute, she thought. "Her kind?" She might have a tail and semi-large ears, but she was still far from calling herself a mouse. She wrestled with this new aspect of her personality, but it was no use. While she tried to continue moving her body forward and walk past the cat, she couldn't move her feet.
Meanwhile, the cat had noticed her and was slowly slinking toward her. It was only thirty feet away, and Mary began to panic even more. Her scared mind told her to run, but her rational side protested there was no danger. She didn't know what to do, and she had very little time to make a decision.